Bull that escaped from Illinois farm lassoed after hours on the run

MARENGO, Ill. -- A bull that escaped from an Illinois farm spent hours on the run before men on horseback finally lassoed the animal in a scene straight out of the Old West.

The bull was captured Thursday evening after the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office warned in a Facebook post around 4:30 p.m. that “there is a loose bull in the vegetation” in Marengo, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Chicago.

That post prompted one person to jokingly comment, “And a note for all you city folks, do NOT attempt to milk the cow.”

Video from WLS-TV shows six men on horseback chasing the 1,200-pound (544-kilogram) black angus crossbreed through a pasture after it had broken free from one lasso around its neck. Three of the men on horseback then successfully lassoed the bull on the edge of a cornfield just outside the town of Union.

The bull struggled with those lassoes before the men calmed him down and led him back to the farm he'd escaped from hours before. WGN-TV reported that the bull was captured around 6:45 p.m. Thursday.

“Oh yeah he had a temper on him, but when you’re loose and running wild like that, he’s scared too, just like as much as we were,” said farmer Ken Bauman, who feared the bull might run onto a roadway into a vehicle's path.

Ken and Beth Bauman were among neighboring farmers who spent much of Thursday afternoon keeping an eye on the bull. The Baumans said the bull’s owner told them the animal arrived at the farm just this week and that may have been why he escaped.

Authorities said the bull was doing fine after he was returned home.